Blockchains, those distributed, networked, verified and shared transactions, are going to eclipse Bitcoin and blow up how we do business online. Once you know what I know and we all know everything about everyone, a point we are headed toward anyway, imagine what predictive analytics and the Internet of Things can do for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This Curagami post knocks down common blockchain objections such as no central authority and not redeemable as "absurd" given the major almost-depression-like pain we suffered in 2008. After such a calamity can anyone claim centralized control is a good thing.

Despite our efforts to decentralize "too big to fail" banks, they've gotten bigger. Here's an idea. Let's stop doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Blockchains promise to disrupt banks, healthcare and just every everything as we share on Curagami: http://www.curagami.com/the-blockchain-disruption/

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Money is already dead man walking and blockchains promise to kill it the rest of the way - and that's a good thing as we share in this Curagami post.

Chatbots Are ComingChatbots, code that mimics conversation using artificial intelligence, is going to a website near you. Can you afford to NOT be on the Chatbot train? Answer: No, so download this free Chatbot guide from Inbenta.com.

Get a free crash course on everything chatbots, straight from the experts

What we have here is a failure to communicate. Cool Hand Luke's famous quote applies to SEO and content marketing in the age of a semi-autonomous almost sentient ranking algorithm as this excellent INC post shares.

Data is a sizzling hot topic these days. Marketers are learning how to use the right information to drive leads and close sales in record time.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

Telling Stories with DataWe're big believers in feedback loops. Feedback loops help create online community. When you customers know how many other "like them" members of your "tribe" like the same things, review the things your customers are thinking about buying, and love what you make you find the 1% Sherpas needed to carry your message and create Friends of Friends marketing.

Data without a story is something only an accountant could love. Data with a story and a few charts, graphis and infographics and anyone can understand, join and help.

2 + 2 = ZebraWhen we are trying to explain the unexplainable crazy digital marketing business we use a dada-like math and art analogy. Two plus Two equal Zebra speaks to the surreal nature of what we do, the clash of art, science, reason, understanding, serendipity and random BUMMERS and joy every SEO knows and doesn't know.

We're riffing Larry Kim's great RankBrain Judgement Day post for SearchEngine Watch. We only understood parts of Kim's brilliant post, but all the right ducks are in the right rows. Kim's post feels like the future of seo's math even if we only understand it half as well as that differential calculus class that kicked our butt in college.

Plans Won't Save YouPlans aren't the problem, but planning is as we explain on Linkedin and in our Answer a marketing question a day on Quora (https://www.quora.com/profile/Martin-Smith-153/rss).Marketing plans ain't what they used to be and we're glad.

The desire for plans is a fantasy built on an illusion. The fantasy is that YOU can plan and the illusion is that plans matter. They don't but, as we shared in our post, we like a good SWOT as much as the next guy :). Marty

.Scoop.it CrushesWordpressThe @Scoop.it team has done an amazing job. Their content curation tool anticipates what is going to happen next beautifully as a stat we found by accident proves.

How does Scoop.it compare to Wordpress?

We wrote and Scooped a post on the 5 Reasons We Are Leaving Wordpress ( http://sco.lt/590bYn) earlier. As we shared that post in our Web Design Revolution Scoop.it feed ( http://sco.lt/5Hy5Q1 ) we wondered how the tools would compare.

As we noted in our post the comparison isn't straight up. We've used Scoop.it longer, but we've put more time into Wordpress since 2014 (by far). So differences in usage may be moot, but results sure are not.

Results speak to many things including the "lean marketing" and critical role content curation plays in our marketing future as @Guillaume Decugis and the Scoop.it team preach. The biggest win is in the TIME to RESULT ratio. Scoop.it is a snowball rolling down hill now.

* Bad SEO - Our first feed, Content Revolution (http://www.scoop.it/t/curation-revolution ) has fallen to #6 after owning #1 on Curation Revolution for years. I'm to blame here. since I put so much time into Wordpress (who knew :).

* Crap Overload - Scoop.it is BUILT to filter the web's CRAP into effective content curation with tools such as their keyword based spider and community suggestions. Scoop.it FILTERS CRAP into meaningful content with ROI attached.

Good job @Martin (Marty) Smith , you nailed it, I had the same Scoop-it-first, feeling, and here you come with numbers and case for Scoop.it. It's all about shared interests (what you rightly called, tribe of advocates) and friendly platform. Thank you for mention

The Mythical Silver Bullet DashboardWe aren't big believers in silver bullets. The web is too complex and fast for a single solution. The only time that matters online is NOW.

That said, understanding what is happening now can prove TOUGH. If you've ever tried to tease out Google Analytics patterns you know just how tough. Can a dashboard help you know what is important faster? Maybe.

The web creates one central problem - noise to signal ratio. Hidden inside the noise is a pattern, a signal, you need to convert better, to campaign better, to increase engagement and lower costs. Finding that needle can prove daunting.

Needlessly daunting since half the reason we work so hard to understand is our marketing tools suck. They suck so bad we created a company, Curagami, to create new ones. Then we learned just how hard this road, the road to understanding, can become.

Will this new dashboard make a difference? Cut the hype in half and there does appear to be something in there, something buried in its own stack of hay.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

We don't believe in silver bullets. The web moves too fast. This new dashboard suffers from some of the same "clouding" problems we are all too familiar with, but there's more of it (lol).

AI & CreativityLooking at the continuous media coverage surrounding campaigns using virtual reality or augmented reality – and more recently artificial intelligence (AI), in conjunction with the rapid growth and evolution of programmatic advertising as an offering, you’d be forgiven for thinking the marketing and communications industry is a leader in terms of adopting and leveraging new technology.

Martin (Marty) Smith's insight:

This post does make one think about how "human" tasks will change once automated by AI and robots.

Revenge of the NerdsYeah what else is new. AI rules startups and cool kids rule AI. Course it helps if you know a little math too. What Jeff Bezos started - the algorithmic nature of selling - is eating the world as this TechCrunch post shares.

Branding in a RevolutionClearly, the rules of Branding have changed and then quickly changed again. Branding in a revolution where nothing old or familiar works well requires disruption, asynchronous thinking, and meshing.

This post creates a collision between Bynder's Branding Trends 2016 Report and David Edelman's great Branding In A Digital Age article for the Harvard Business Review.

Apple Pivot, Will We CareAgree. Apple is looking for another disruption not looking to milk iPhone / iPad sales. And this is an understatement:

"I suspect most of this has been due to the fact that Apple does not draw attention to its product pipeline and long-term strategy, choosing instead to embrace secrecy and mystery. "

Open vs. ClosedThe bigger question, for us, is the OPEN vs. CLOSED question. Apple hasn't made friends in the developer community. Sure we bend, scrape, plead and cry to have apps accepted, but the taste left with us is sour and painful.

Android is trying to tighten standards having played, "Come One, Come All" a tad too loudly, but Apple is fickle and a pain. Yes it is good to be KING, but no one is KING of anything lasting that doesn't also inspire loyalty, trust and love.

Most of the developers I know, even the ones who are rich thanks to Apple's app store, don't look forward to wrestling with Apple again. Some have achieved "trusted" status now, but they remember the blood and tears it took to get there.

So note to Google, never tighten to the point where your tightening feels or seems capricious and mean. Apple has seemed capricious and mean to several developer friends who requested to remain nameless. Were they scared Apple might make a horrible process even harder? You bet.

Apple is testimony to the power of "insanely great". NO ONE jumps through the seemingly arbitrary hoops Apple is known for unless "insanely great" is attached. I'm a huge Apple fan and have been since buying the Apple II back in the day.

Lately I've caught myself wondering if the OVER (what I gain by being an Apple supporter) is worth the UNDER (what it takes to remain loyal). That is a conversation NO BRAND wants their customers to begin EVER since all the negative things leaving brings follows.

The watch left me cold. I rarely wear watches anymore, but when I do I want something from MoMA and their tiny phone on your wrist looked more Dick Tracy than cool watch (to me). I'm wearing a watch to dinner tonight and it won't be an Apple Watch.

My updated AIR is nothing but a pain. It doesn't fit my hands, the keyword is impossible to tune, and the screen too small. I never use it preferring my old Air (from 6 years ago). I love my iMac with the huge screen (what I'm writing on now), but it too was a failure.

We tried moving my 83-year-old father over to the big Mac screen but accessibility features were a torture and he is a Windows guy and will remain one. My Macbook I like, but it is getting long in the tooth and clunky. My iPad Pro I LOVE and that is taking the place of the new AIR (that I hate) and my MacBook.

Long diatribe, but I share my journey as a note of growing Apple frustration. My new EXPENSIVE Air was a disaster I should have sent back, but I kept thinking it was me. I don't think that way anymore and that can't be good for Apple.

Here's a fascinating article about the problems with virtual reality storytelling and empathy.

Virtual Reality (VR) is all the rage and very popular at SXSW. We know storytelling is a powerhouse for building our empathy muscles. But what is the impact of VR on empathy?

Turns out, it's not what you think.

The aim of VR is to encourage a human connection and understanding between those wearing a headset and the characters in the story.

Problems around empathy rise when certain stories simply generate a feeling of helplessness in the participant that leads to greater detachment -- not greater human connection.

I love what one of those interviewed for the article says near the end: "But the empathy idea presents another problem for me – the notion that the world's problems arise from a scarcity of feeling rather than from issues of power, inequality and exploitation of people and planetary resources." Hear hear.

There are more details and insights to read in this long-very-long post, and it will make you go, "huh".

Here's a fascinating article about the problems with virtual reality storytelling and empathy.

Virtual Reality (VR) is all the rage and very popular at SXSW. We know storytelling is a powerhouse for building our empathy muscles. But what is the impact of VR on empathy?

Turns out, it's not what you think.

The aim of VR is to encourage a human connection and understanding between those wearing a headset and the characters in the story.

Problems around empathy rise when certain stories simply generate a feeling of helplessness in the participant that leads to greater detachment -- not greater human connection.

I love what one of those interviewed for the article says near the end: "But the empathy idea presents another problem for me – the notion that the world's problems arise from a scarcity of feeling rather than from issues of power, inequality and exploitation of people and planetary resources." Hear hear.

There are more details and insights to read in this long-very-long post, and it will make you go, "huh".

Here's a fascinating article about the problems with virtual reality storytelling and empathy.

Virtual Reality (VR) is all the rage and very popular at SXSW. We know storytelling is a powerhouse for building our empathy muscles. But what is the impact of VR on empathy?

Turns out, it's not what you think.

The aim of VR is to encourage a human connection and understanding between those wearing a headset and the characters in the story.

Problems around empathy rise when certain stories simply generate a feeling of helplessness in the participant that leads to greater detachment -- not greater human connection.

I love what one of those interviewed for the article says near the end: "But the empathy idea presents another problem for me – the notion that the world's problems arise from a scarcity of feeling rather than from issues of power, inequality and exploitation of people and planetary resources." Hear hear.

There are more details and insights to read in this long-very-long post, and it will make you go, "huh".

Here's a fascinating article about the problems with virtual reality storytelling and empathy.

Virtual Reality (VR) is all the rage and very popular at SXSW. We know storytelling is a powerhouse for building our empathy muscles. But what is the impact of VR on empathy?

Turns out, it's not what you think.

The aim of VR is to encourage a human connection and understanding between those wearing a headset and the characters in the story.

Problems around empathy rise when certain stories simply generate a feeling of helplessness in the participant that leads to greater detachment -- not greater human connection.

I love what one of those interviewed for the article says near the end: "But the empathy idea presents another problem for me – the notion that the world's problems arise from a scarcity of feeling rather than from issues of power, inequality and exploitation of people and planetary resources." Hear hear.

There are more details and insights to read in this long-very-long post, and it will make you go, "huh".

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